More interesting and, perhaps, more important than exchange of flint axes and amber is the spread of patterns, methods, influences; of new ideas and stimuli from mind to mind and people to people. A new implement, like the mace-heads and arm-rings, of which we have spoken; a new form of axe or dagger; the form and ornament of pottery; the building of dolmens or the spread of immigration with the accompanying change of cult and thought—all these brought not only economic improvement but growth of mind. Sophus Müller, and Montelius in a less degree, may have been somewhat extreme in their emphasis on the importance of oriental and Mediterranean influences and leadership, but their main thesis was correct.[116] Civilization and culture were far older in the Orient than in Europe, and far more advanced south than north of the Alps. These were the centres of radiation of ideas and stimuli as well as patterns, inventions, and discoveries.
This does not mean that northern Europe was a passive recipient. It accepted and adopted whatever and only what it would, and probably refused many a valuable suggestion. In many cases it improved on the patterns or example of its teacher and inspirer. The art of polishing stone implements and the use of bronze may not have been indigenous in Scandinavia; but here, as time went on, genuine works of art were produced superior to any in the world, far more artistic than the beautiful technique of the Egyptians. Prehistoric domestic animals were almost certainly introduced from the East. But the lake-dwellers usually improved the breed by intercrossing with forms derived from their own fauna. They increased the list of cultivated plants. The idea or conception passed from tribe to tribe, but the new stimulus did its fermenting work differently, according to the mind or medium into which it fell. There was always readaptation and more or less change. To be a wide borrower and at the same time to usually improve on one’s teacher requires something very close to genius, though the originality may be less obtrusive. We have no reason to be ashamed of our Neolithic ancestors.
The result of this exchange of products and ideas will be more apparent during the next period. Trade-routes and lines of communication will then become far more clear and fixed. But it is important to notice that these routes are already opening in all directions, perhaps more numerous because still experimental, tentative, and somewhat vague. The routes of transportation during prehistoric times, as usually in pioneer periods, were mainly along river valleys. Where basins almost or quite touch one another centres of contact and distribution naturally arise. Hence the prosperity of the Department of Saone-et-Loire, in France. A study of any good relief-map of Europe will show the chief routes of trade almost at a glance. The great east-and-west artery is the valley of the Danube, with its tributaries extending far northward, almost touching the headwaters of rivers flowing into the North Sea or Baltic. The westernmost north-and-south route is by sea along the Atlantic coast from Spain to England or Denmark. A second was formed by the Rhone and Rhine, eastward and parallel to the French highlands extending from the Mediterranean to Belgium, broken by the pass of Belfort. A third ran up the valley of the Elbe and down the Moldau to the Danube. This was the most important route in Europe, especially for amber. A fourth, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, followed the Vistula and the Dniester. From ancient times the Black Sea and its tributaries have been the great route of communication between the Ægean and southern Russia as well as parts of the Balkan Peninsula. During the greater part of the Neolithic period it was probably only a sluggish and irregular current of trade which trickled along most of these routes, put it was the beginning and promise of larger and better things, and must not be despised or neglected.
In any study of the industries of this period the manufacture of pottery is of the greatest interest and most fundamental importance. Pottery is to the archæologist what characteristic fossils are to the paleontologist. It is almost indestructible. In its texture, form, and ornament it affords wide scope for individual or tribal skill and invention, and yet over wide areas the general type shows a remarkable unity and persistency. A single sherd may often tell a long and reliable story. The pottery of the Mediterranean basin and of many oriental localities is a fairly sure guide to the age of a long-buried settlement and to the relations of its people with other, often distant regions. The chronology and much of the history of Egypt, Troy, and Crete, and many ancient settlements of Greece and Italy, are based largely on the study of their pottery. It is far more expressive and informing than the average stone or bone implement.
The time is not yet ripe, however, for such deductions from the study of the pottery of northern and middle Europe. A good foundation has been laid, much material gathered which is being built up into a firm system. But in this pioneer work many rash generalizations have been based upon a foundation of facts drawn from a very narrow area, often incompletely understood. Here we must proceed cautiously and can give only a very brief and inadequate outline sketch of the most important results in which we may have a fair degree of confidence and which are needed in our further study.
Pottery appears first in the transition epoch from Paleolithic to Neolithic, at Campigny and in the kitchen-middens. Long before this time there must have been containers for fluids. A concavity in the rock may have been the first reservoir and a mussel-shell the first drinking-cup. Wherever gourds occurred they were doubtless hollowed out and made most convenient jars and dishes. Vessels of bark and wood probably came into use early in the north. Skins of animals tightly sewn with sinew and with well-greased seams formed excellent bottles, still used in the Orient. Where the art of plaiting twigs, splints, or reeds into mats and baskets had been discovered, it was not a long step to coat the inside with clay and dry or finally burn it before the fire. The potter’s wheel did not come into use until the Bronze period. Pottery had been used in the Orient long before this time. It is found well made and beautifully decorated in the oldest strata at Susa. The art may have been introduced from Asia or lost during the long migration and then reacquired. Here we are still in the dark.
POTTERY FROM NEOLITHIC GRAVES
The pottery of northern Europe can be distributed into a few groups or general types, every one of which is wide-spread and fairly distinct, though mixture or combination of types is not uncommon, especially along the boundaries of distribution where two types meet. There is much difference of opinion and discussion concerning details, but general agreement as to fundamentals and essentials.[117]